Fallen Knights
by Djap
Summary: Dark Ace x Aerrow, Nothing like the stuff I usually write. This is for those who actually know the dark side and still like it


**FALLEN KNIGHTS**

**A STORM HAWKS FANFICTION**

**AUTHOR**: Djap

**PAIRING**: Dark Ace x (Dark?) Aerrow

**GENRE**: Drama, Established Relationship, mention of torture (not explicit and in no sexual way), sad

**RATING**: R

**DISCLIAMER**: They're not mine and I won't make any money with them. Pity.

**LANGUAGE**: English, but I'm not native speaker. Actually I'm from Germany. Would you like to help me out as my beta?

**DEDICATION**: To all fans of the show who actually like the Dark Side of our heroes

**SO TAKE A GLASS WINE, LIE BACK AND ENJOY**

**YOURS DJAP**

*~*~*

**Fallen Knights**

**a Djap story**

*~*~*

Aerrow still couldn't believe he'd actually done this. He so desperately had wanted to be one of the good guys. He'd wanted to be their hero, to defeat the Cyclonian enemy for good. But he'd not only failed miserably – he'd become a Cyclonian Commander himself.

But as much as he might hate himself for it now, there was no going back anymore. He felt a presence coming near while he sat on a the rocky surface near the Cyclonian headquarters overlooking the wastelands. He knew who it was without turning his head and waited patiently until his lover had reached him.

He felt the surprisingly soft touch of Ace's fingers on his shoulders, as the taller man finally sat without words directly behind him, stretching his long legs right around his waist, while pulling Aerrow back against his chest.

Aerrow let himself be hugged and comforted, while he leaned back and remembered what had brought him to this doom.

*~*~*

He can't even remember when exactly it had started. One moment they where fighting over life and death like usual and from one second to the other they were kissing hotly, biting lips, grinding groin against groin. He had been alone on this mission and Ace had managed to find him on his own equally alone.

Of course there were no real feelings between them back at that time. There might have been some kind of weird attraction, channelled by their highly qualified fighting sills and their utter hate for each other.

There was Aerrow who not only wanted to take revenge on the murderer of his father but wanted to defeat everything bad in this world. And on the other hand there was the Dark Ace, who had long ago lost his fight against his own dark side, loosing not only his only real friends but every other positive feeling, he ever had been able to experience so far through his betrayal.

And still, there was nothing what would have been able to stop them now, since they crossed that small line between hate and passion. There coupling was nothing with resemblance to love or even romance. It was harsh, drawing blood with nails and teeth fighting about hate and dominance.

It probably didn't take longer than 10 minutes all in all and although their most important body parts were exposed they both still wore most of their clothes. So they lay there, panting, not daring to look each other in the eye, covered in hikeys, purple stains, bites and scratches, while trying to find back to their right sense.

Ace was the first to get his self control back, so he stood up, brought his clothes back in order and went without another word to his bike before turning to him.

Aerrow swallowed hard as Ace grabbed his sword because for a second he feared for his life. But then, Ace just put it back on his usual place on his back and mounted his skimmer. Before he started to fly away he said only one sentence:

"The next time we meet, this has never happened."

Aerrow only nodded at that. There was no way he'd like to remember this dark hour he mused, while he watched the Cyclonian Commander leave.

*~*~*

If anyhow possible they even fought with more vengeance the next time they met. The air seemed to burn between them, all Storm Hawks and even the Talons seemed to notice. They had always been intent on each other but this time no one dared to cross their path.

They actually managed not to cross that line again, but that was probably because they had tamed their hunger for each other for the moment. Still it was just a question of time, when their feelings would crush over them and change them into simple puppets of their libido.

*~*~*

It may have been fate that the next time they met they found a way to get alone without anyone noticing. They had met while they had both been on a market to buy new crystals and resources on the yearly market of Terra Vendeur. Although they both were incognito they recognized each other right away and Dark Ace made a mental note that in the future he wouldn't probably be able to fool Aerrow anymore with false uniforms and a different skimmer.

Their eyes met and while staring at each other they both knew within seconds that it would happen again. So Ace gestured only with a slight nod to one of the dark alleys and they had in fact problems to even reach that. They started kissing almost in the broad daylight and only the last remains of their reason helped them staying in the shadows for the rest of it.

It still was harsh and full of hate and blood, but this time they both knew, they wouldn't be able to prevent it from happening again.

While they got their breaths back, Ace suddenly whispered: "This is too dangerous."

"I know. We should stop this. This is just plain sick." But Ace just gave him a sour look and Aerrow stopped pretending. Instead he complained: "Come on, you must hate this as much as I do."

"I do, but probably for other reasons than you. And I meant, that we should take this probably to a place, where we won't be able to get caught. So that we'll be able to control it to prevent us from failing in our obligations."

Even Aerrow had to admit that this seemed a good reasoning even if he didn't trust the man not to lie to him about it.

"There is a place on Terra Neon where no one cares who you are und who you fuck. As long as you pay for your room you'll get left alone." Ace searched his robes he wore to disguise his identity and finally found pen and paper to scribble something down. "If you want to meet me, just tell Bill, he should call me. I'll probably need about 24 hours to prevent any nosy Talon from finding out where I'll be going, so don't forget to add that time to your schedule for a meeting."

And with that he gave Aerrow the address and got lost in the anonymity of the crowd within seconds.

*~*~*

Aerrow needed about six weeks to come to terms with himself. There was so much to fear – so much that could happen and most of it was bad.

First: Dark Ace could have been lying and this was all just a trap to catch him or probably to humiliate him as well.

Second: He would go and his friends would be so worried about him, that they'd catch him in that compromising position. How in the nine hells would he be able to explain why he was messing around with his worst enemy in a physical relationship?

Third: What if he went and the Dark Ace wouldn't come because he'd gotten his senses back and figured this for the bad idea it actually was?

Fourth: What if the Dark Ace was right to stay away because Aerrow would be the one to use this as a trap to catch him?

But Aerrow ruled the last one out because that would mean he had to tell them he'd already had have sex with him twice. That brought him back to the second problem and his feelings he didn't seem to be able to recognize anymore.

What was he feeling for the man? Surly he was not in love with him, but was this really just lust? If this would just be his teenager hormones making a riot, why was this affecting Dark Ace as well? He definitely was no teen anymore, that much was for sure. He really did now what he was doing to Aerrow while he himself had just held on for the ride.

So Aerrow's first try to find a reasonable solution had been to get it on with a faceless stranger. He couldn't do this to any of his friends just out of curiosity and besides he wouldn't have known how to explain his sudden wish to experiment without actually wanting to have a relationship.

So one night he stole away to one of the known gay bars and tried his luck. And well, he actually did get lucky but in the end he just felt awful about it all. More so than he'd actually felt after his encounters with the Talon Commander. At least these had been kind of mutual – that is if Dark Ace wasn't pulling some really weird mind games with him.

But he ruled that out as well. There was something about experiencing that much intimacy with someone and you could just feel if he was being affected by it or not. Even though Aerrow hadn't much experience to compare he was to ninety nine percent positive Dark Ace was as helpless in this as himself.

*~*~*

So finally he went to Terra Neon just as Dark Ace had instructed him. He still couldn't believe it when the man actually appeared as he'd told him. He feared the sky to fall down on them – or at least the whole Talon army. But nothing like that happened. So up they went into their booked room to still this insatiably hunger in them.

This time they really tried to take at least a little time. They even stripped completely and didn't drew that much blood as before. They did it twice and both napped a little before deciding to leave again for their representative chosen homes. It was the start of everything, especially the doom it would bring to Aerrow.

*~*~*

They met each other on a regular basis from that on. They still fought each other on the battlefields like they'd always done before, showing no mercy – and both new, the other one would take his chance to kill the other if he could.

And still both of them seemed to change, which showed prominently in the sex. They didn't only start to try everything out they could think of, they actually started to want to satisfy one another's needs. Their meetings grew from something selfish to something entirely else, where they actually did care for each other in some way.

And over the time they had started to really talk to each other. Of course they never discussed anything which concerned the people they worked for or their actual missions. And both didn't try even once to persuade the other to betray their superiors or friends.

They talked instead about the really important things: about Aerrow sometimes hating the pressure he was put under by all people around him; about Ace feeling lonely because no one ever really could trust him anymore; about Aerrow's love for his skimmer and the fights; about Ace's taste in music which was surprisingly similar to Aerrows own. About how both of them had pictured their life when they were just small boys, both knowing that fate would probably prevent that wish from manifesting.

Even though both of them should hate each other they stopped doing it. It was no decision they made consciously, it just happened. While Ace started to learn, there were positive feelings in him after all, Aerrow learnt that there was at least one person in Atmos who wasn't shocked to hear about his dark side. The side in him that sometimes wanted to hurt those other Sky Knights as well because they weren't able to live up to their own standards. The side in him that seemed in a dark rage when he fought and wanted to kill even though he never did it. The side in him who wanted to snap and scream at his friends whenever even they expected him to be always their hero.

But they both knew everything good would come to an end – they just had hoped it would take a little longer to do so.

*~*~*

It was right after the first meeting in the seventh month, when they were caught. As the Storm Hawks conquered the room and surprised them Aerrow was paralysed. He just couldn't move, but at least Ace managed to escape because without Aewrrow fighting there was no one of his team who would have been able to stop him.

They didn't let him explain anything. They just tied him up and brought him on the Condor. Piper was crying all the time and babbling about that now everything would be good again. Aerrow could see how much they must have worried about him, without him ever noticing anything about it.

He tried to explain them, that he had never betrayed them in any way. He told them, that he loves them and would never want to loose them. But they didn't listen to him. They had made their decision before, and now they had to go through with it – because they feared for the sanity of their leader.

*~*~*

It had been hell. Aerrow lay in his cell staring at the dark corners of the ceiling watching a spider build a net. He wondered when they would come for his next session and what they'd probably try next.

He couldn't tell anymore how long he had been here, he'd lost his feeling for time probably weeks ago. He wasn't really able to feel angry or hurt or disappointed anymore he just felt dull.

His imprisonment had started with interrogations. They wanted to know how much information he'd given Dark Ace about their forces and missions. He didn't know how often he actually protested their reproaches and when exactly they started to use methods he hadn't known about. There were laws against torture, he had been sure about that. He had even fought for this land which he had thought to knew.

But now, since he had been given over to the hands of his superiors by his own friends, he had learned that there probably was no real good or bad in the world after all. Were Atmosians really better than Cyclonians? Somehow he'd started to doubt that along the line. He learned pretty fast that both might have their dark sides. Only that Cyclonia shows it openly, while Atmos is hiding it. But still, it exists.

When they were sure he hadn't told Dark Ace anything, they wanted to get information about their tactics and missions – but he had to disappoint them again: What he didn't know he couldn't tell them. Only the promise of more pain if he lied to them prevented him to make something up just to get them of his back.

That was the last time he had had frequent visitors when he wasn't too much hurt or beaten up to damage his superiors pure image. His friends used to come by as often as they could, but after a while he just started to ignore them. At the beginning he'd pleaded with them to help him, to get him out of this hellhole, but still, they hadn't believed him. Probably their superiors had told them that he'd been under some mind control or something from Dark Ace. So he just ignored them until they stopped visiting altogether.

Somehow he even couldn't find the strength anymore to weep for his loss.

When this didn't satisfy his superiors anymore they started to manipulate and brainwash him. Intellectually he knew what they were doing and probably his Sky Knight Genes thwarted their plans. He could retreat in his own mind for his sessions, so they didn't have shown any effects yet. But he wasn't sure how long he was able to keep doing that. So some days ago he'd decided to end this for good. He'll prefer to commit suicide rather than become their toy to hurt Dark Ace.

He had lost all hope that help would be on his way.

*~*~*

When Ace actually stood in front of him in persona he figured it at the beginning for some trick his mind had been playing on him. it wouldn't have been the first so far, so he just ignored the appearance and went back to sleep.

Even as he was roughly shaken to get up he just thought he'd confused the guards again in his hazy mind. But then he could smell him and something in him broke. He wasn't sure why he was crying. He was torn between actually believing that Dark Ace was there to rescue him or thinking that he'd finally lost his mind completely.

He doesn't remember much more about his escape from the prison. Only that he was crying like a little child while gripping Ace's uniform so hard, it tore, before Ace took him on his arms to carry him out of that hellhole cell.

*~*~*

The days after his breakout were hazy to him and he couldn't remember them very well. What he remembers is Ace's smell, which was almost all the time there as if he'd never left his side for more than a few minutes. He remembers being held while he slept and being fed some soup and fruits to get his strength back. He remembers having nightmares and getting shaken out of them and getting comforted afterwards.

He hadn't known how far he'd already been gone, how nearly he almost was lost in his own mind. They both needed weeks to bring him back to something resembling sanity. Even now he sometimes wakes up fearing to still be in that damn cell. Or worse fearing they'd have completed their task and he'd some time in the future betray Ace.

*~*~*

"So what do you want to do now?"

Ace lay directly behind him, whispering the words as if he was afraid of Aerrow's answer. Both were naked since this had been the first time they'd actually been able to sleep with each other since his rescue.

"There isn't really a choice for me, is it? Of course I'll swear my loyalty to her."

Aerrow felt wet drops fall on his waist, while Ace wept silently for him. Aerrow was shocked as he saw that, because he hadn't known Ace could weep at all. He'd never seen him do it before and he was pretty sure he wouldn't ever again.

When he got himself back under control, while Aerrow just hugged him and stroked his back to give as much comfort as he could, Ace finally whispered:

"I told you this was dangerous. I never wanted it to take this end."

*~*~*

It had been easier than Aerrow had thought. Cyclonis had known about his downfall for a while now and had even allowed his first Commander to take free to nurse him back into life. Of course she never did anything to be nice: She wanted him to work for her – he already knew that much.

So he kneeled in front of her, taking the oath. He didn't hesitate – there was no where else for them to go and no where else to hide. And leaving Ace was no possibility anymore. He had become his life force and he would be bound to him forever. The only place for them was here, and he had finally accepted that. This was his punishment for his desires he hadn't been able to control.

She accepted his services and told him his first order.

He didn't even blink as he heard what he had to do to prove his loyalty to her. He had know all along what she would demand. So he just nodded in Cyclonian salute, and left to follow her orders.

*~*~*

That's the situation where Ace had followed him to comfort him once again. He had known too what she would ask him to do, but he hadn't said anything about it because he knew that his partner was already aware of it.

So they just sat there for a while, before Aerrow finally decided to get through with it. He stood up and reached down to help his lover on his feet. "Shall we go then?"

Ace seemed more sad than ever: "So you'll really go through with it?"

"It's that or killing myself. And I won't hurt you that way and take me away from you now, that you found me. You're everything to me now, there is now way back."

"But…" but Aerrow shushed him with his fingers.

"No but. Just, I'll need your help. I'll kill them myself like she ordered, but please stay with me, so I'll do it as quick and as painless for them as I can."

Ace finally nodded, before he kissed the still resting fingers on his lips.

"I'll do as you wish."

"Let's go then."

They went to Ace's skimmer, which he'd parked directly beside his lover's. They mounted their rides and took off. They were on a mission for Cyclonis and she didn't like to wait. It took them only about two hours to actually find the Condor.

The Storm Hawks never stood a chance.

*~*~*

**Endless End**

**Finished 2****nd**** September 2009**


End file.
